1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to vending machines for dispensing bottled beverages and more specifically to a controlled containment system incorporated into existing vertical columns in which bottles are stacked for discharge to enable irregularly shaped bottles to be stacked in and moved from a vertical storage dispenser column into a dispenser tray at the bottom of the column for discharge of the bottled beverages from a collection door without damage to the bottles. The controlled containment system includes a pair of opposed bottle neck guide tracks to keep the bottles from turning sideways when the bottles are stacked alternately, neck to bottom in a stack. The structure keep the bottles from "nose-diving" thus allowing the stack of bottles to move smoothly downwardly while in a horizontal position to drop into the dispenser tray which includes leveling disks to keep the bottles level in the dispenser tray for discharge into a collection door or other discharge point on the vending machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Present commercially available vending machines for dispensing bottled drinks or beverages cannot effectively dispense certain types of commercially available bottled beverages or drinks. Certain bottles containing beverages or drinks are irregular in shape. One such bottle is that used to bottle mineral water sold under the trademark "PERRIER". This type of bottle includes a tapered neck and a body portion that is continuously and sperically curved from a flat bottom to the tapered neck with the longitudinal sectional configuration of the wall of the major body portion of the bottle being continuously curved from the flat bottom to the tapered neck with the outer surface of the bottle being convex and the inner surface of the bottle being concave. The bottles, because of their shape, tend to nose-dive and do not stack one on top of the other in a horizontal position which is necessary to stack the bottles in a vertical column for smooth dispensing. When a bottle nose-dives, the neck can become trapped in the rotatable dispensing tray thus causing jamming and stalling of the dispenser motor and possible breakage of the bottle which renders the vending machine inoperable until the problem has been corrected.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,919 discloses an apparatus for stacking conical objects that are all arranged in an inclined direction with retarding means controlling downward movement of the conical members. The prior art does not disclose any structure for effectively retaining the above described irregularly shaped bottles in horizontal position in a vertical stack in a storage column of a vending machine in order for the lowermost bottle in the stack to be oriented horizontally for smooth discharge into the dispensing tray which is then rotated by the dispensing motor for discharging the lowermost bottle into a discharge chute and collection door.